An area containing living organisms interacting among themselves and with their physical & chemical environment.

Ecosystem services

The outcomes of ecosystem processes that are important to human life and wellbeing.

Benefits

The material and non-material ways in which ecosystem services contribute to human life and well-being

Value

The measure of benefits provided to humans by ecosystems, which can be in monetary (₪), physical (-/+) or qualitative terms.

Regulating services

The outcomes of ecosystem processes that regulate conditions of the biotic and abiotic environment in ways that are crucial and beneficial to humans.

Provisioning services

The outcomes of ecosystem processes that provide products obtained by humans.

Cultural services

The outcomes of ecosystem processes that enrich the lives of humans in non-material ways.

Biodiversity

The variability among living organisms on earth including diversity within species, between species and between ecosystems.

Geodiversity

The variety of rocks, minerals, fossils, landforms, sediments and soils in a place.

Ecosystem Processes

The result of complex interactions between biotic (living organisms) and abiotic (chemical and physical) components of ecosystems through the universal driving forces of matter and energy (De Groot 2002).

Supporting ecosystem processes

Those ecosystem processes that directly underlie or are necessary for the provision of ecosystem services and their related benefits.

הפוסט Glossary of terms הופיע לראשונה ב-Hamaarag.

Pollination: the movement of a pollen grain in space, from the male reproductive part of the flower in which it was produced, to the ovary in the female reproductive part of a flower of the same species, providing the foundation for reproduction in angiosperms (seed plants). Pollination services are provided mainly by bees (domesticated or wild), but also by butterflies, moths, other arthropods, birds and mammals.

Pollination by numbers

• 35% of the world’s vegetative food production depends on animal-mediated pollination, mainly by bees.
• 60% – 80% of wild plant species require animal-mediated pollination for reproduction (Zaban and Hakima-Koniak, 2011; Kremen et al. 2007).

Therefore, it is clear that pollination is essential for the continued existence of plant populations in open landscapes, as well as for reproduction and food production in agricultural landscapes. The importance of pollination by bees, of which there are 20,000 known species worldwide (approximately 1,000 species in Israel), from an ecological and economic point of view, is immeasurable.

Calculating the value of natural bee pollination

There are various ways to estimate this value for mankind, for example, by calculating the agricultural value based on the sums of money farmers pay to install commercial apiaries in their fields when sufficient natural pollination is not available.

Data show that the total value of pollination for agricultural production on a global scale is 112-200 million dollars per annum (In Israel: approximately 2.5 billion NIS).

The value of pollination for natural systems is even higher (but more difficult to estimate): a diverse array of other important ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration, flood prevention, prevention of soil erosion and water purification, depend indirectly on pollination services which have a role in determining the amounts and types of vegetation comprising the soil cover.

An additional benefit of pollination is, of course, honey production. Research conducted in 2011 near the Ashkelon Regional Council (Zaban and Hakima-Koniak, 2011) found that the potential value of honey production in this region is 5 million NIS.

הפוסט pollination as an example of an important ecosystem service הופיע לראשונה ב-Hamaarag.

Ecosystem services have multidimensional value for society; their contribution to human existence and wellbeing can be expressed in a number of ways. Where possible, the economic value of ecosystem services may be presented. However, the value of some services and benefits is more accurately or completely expressed in terms of their contribution to human health, in cultural-subjective terms, or in biophysical units (e.g. tons of soil).

Economic values

The economic value of services and benefits is quantified by calculating their monetary value per unit time, space, mass etc. Economic quantification is very important for decision makers and policy makers because it simplifies the integration of ecosystem services among the suite of factors to be considered when making decisions about development, planning, resource exploitation and environmental policy. In the National Ecosystem Assessment, the value of services and benefits will be quantified in economic terms where possible, as long as there are data to enable this kind of analysis, and with the understanding that expressing the value in economic terms is not possible or appropriate for every service or benefit.

The economic analyses will be conducted in coordination with Prof. Aliza Fleischer, who leads the economic section of the chapter “Quantification of contributions to human wellbeing”, in order to ensure uniformity of approaches and methods and to enable unification and comparison between analyses conducted in the different chapters.

Health values

Many ecosystem services are essential for a healthy lifestyle, which is characterized by outdoor activity and consumption of natural food, among other things. Health values provided by ecosystems are diverse, and relevant for both physical and mental health. They are usually divided into three main categories – direct positive effects, indirect positive effects and effects in the form of reduced threats from pollution and disease carriers. For example:

• The positive effect of outdoor activity on blood pressure and heart rate
• Encouraging physical activity in close proximity to nature, which improves self-esteem and mood
• Recovery from stressful situations by spending time in nature

These finding have arisen both from scientific studies and from answers to questionnaires that were presented to the public. They can be expressed either qualitatively or quantitatively, for example, by the relative importance that respondents confer on specific services or by the percent of times that closeness to nature affected the result.

Social/cultural values

These values are the most abstract and are likely to vary between different societies and cultures, because these are subjective values conferred by people or cultures on benefits from the environment. Examples of these values include:

• Cultural or religious importance of a particular species (for example, the panda as a Chinese national symbol)
• The importance of landscapes, local species and historical sites for artistic inspiration

Their value may be assessed by analyzing cultural texts (newspapers, television etc.), conducting public surveys, or forming discussion groups with the aim of identifying values with wide-ranging social-group importance, and not just individual importance.

The findings may be expressed either qualitatively or quantitatively, for example by relative importance that the respondents confer on the values in question, or by a Willingness to Pay test, that assesses the willingness of the respondents or discussion group to pay for a given service or benefit.

הפוסט Quantifying the contribution of ecosystem services to human wellbeing הופיע לראשונה ב-Hamaarag.

In order to understand the term ecosystem services we will first define an ecosystem as: all of the plants, animals, microorganisms and environmental variables in a specific physical area. In other words: the biotic (living) and abiotic (inanimate) components of a given area, as well as the interactions and linkages between them. The components of an ecosystem exist within a complex web of interactions including energy flow and nutrient cycling. Examples of ecosystems include rainforests, woodlands, coral reefs, lakes, grasslands and deserts.

Ecosystem services, as defined in the Israel National Ecosystem Assessment (I-NEA) are the ecosystem processes and functions that are important for the existence and wellbeing of mankind.

A number of different types of ecosystem services are commonly defined:

• Provisioning services, which provide material products, such as water, building materials etc.
• Cultural services, such as landscape beauty, leisure and tourism, heritage, opportunities for education and research etc.
• Regulating services, such as climate regulation, flood prevention, erosion prevention, pollination etc.

The ecosystem services approach aims to estimate the benefit gained by mankind from our natural environment, as a way of expressing and quantifying the importance of healthy and functioning ecosystems and biodiversity in different ecosystems. To this end, a measurable value is applied to each of the services that ecosystems provide to mankind.

In recent years scientists, as well as decision makers who are active in open landscape management, have attached increasing importance to ecosystem services, due to heightened awareness of the dependence of social systems on ecosystems, and of the feedbacks between them. 

The Israel National Ecosystem Assessment 

At the end of 2012 the Board of Hamaarag decided to develop and conduct a National Ecosystem Assessment.

An “ecosystem assessment” is a project format that was first developed by an international and interdisciplinary group of scientists in the fields of natural and social sciences, under the name Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. The process summarized current knowledge on the state of, and trends within, ecosystems and the services they provide to mankind, on a global scale. Israel’s ecosystem  assessment process does not aim to produce new primary knowledge, but rather to collect and synthesize existing knowledge, and to present information relevant for decision-making, planning and policy formulation regarding a publicly significant issue: the importance of the services that Israeli society receives from open landscapes, and quantification of their value.

The decision of HaMaarag to carry out a national ecosystem assessment project, which is called “Ecosystems and Human Wellbeing – A National Assessment” in Hebrew, stems from the recognition that the continuing existence and prosperity of human society depends on functioning ecosystems and the services they provide us. HaMaarag is also well aware of the significance of efficient and effective communication between open landscape managers and decision makers and the wider community when describing the importance and value (ecological, economic and cultural) of open landscapes, so that these issues will be taken into account during decision making. The first critical step in knowledge-based communication in this field is assessing and presenting the state of, and trends in, Israel’s ecosystems and the services they provide.

Goals of the I-NEA

The objectives guiding the project are:

• To increase awareness of the multifaceted value of nature and our dependence on functioning ecosystems.
• To assist managers, decision- and policy-makers in incorporating the value of ecosystem services and the biodiversity on which their provision depends into planning processes, land management.

Conceptual Framework

The conceptual framework presents the theoretical basis of the field of ecosystem services and their assessment in general, and the specific theoretical basis that was built for the Israeli project, including a schematic diagram. This chapter explains the rational for conducting the project, defines the central concepts, and describes important multidisciplinary aspects related to ecosystem services. 

The conceptual framework diagram summarizes the project’s rationale in one picture, presenting the connections between the ecosystem and the social system, wherein ecosystems services and their benefits are a link that connects between environment and society. Among other things, the conceptual framework chapter details the list of services and benefits provided to society by the ecosystems in Israel that are included in the project, and defines the supporting ecological processes taking place in each one that enable provision of the different types of services.

הפוסט The ‘Ecosystems and Human Well-being – a National Assessment’ Program הופיע לראשונה ב-Hamaarag.

הפוסט What should one do if one finds a trail camera in the field? הופיע לראשונה ב-Hamaarag.

הפוסט Principles for the placing of trail cameras הופיע לראשונה ב-Hamaarag.